The Loudest Silence

Mason

I glance down at my phone once again to see if any new notifications had appeared since the last time I had checked, which was approximately a minute ago. The screen remained empty, and the only messages I had were from Brielle asking me to take her to the mall over the weekend.

I let out a sigh as I shoved my phone back into my pocket. I had texted Isabella yesterday to see if she wanted to meet. The first text was early in the day around noon, and when she hadn't answered, I texted her again in the evening. It was now the next morning, and she still hadn't replied. I didn't want to jump to conclusions because Isabella didn't use her phone very often as it was, but a dark feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Regardless of how crappy her phone was, and how little she used it, it had been a long time since she had left a text unanswered. I kept telling myself that she was busy studying for final exams since they were approaching in a week, but the little voice in the back of my head told me otherwise. 

I had last seen her at Brielle's recital, where she finally told me that she was ready to open up. I had felt an immense flood of relief when Isabella let me know at the recital that she would tell me everything. Not only would it clear everything up, and allow me to help her, but it would finally put an end to the lies in our relationship. I hated that there were so many secrets between the two of us, and just wanted to air everything out so that we could explore what exactly it was that was going on between us. 

Wiping the sweat off my face with my t-shirt, I decided to make my way back towards the dorms. It had just hit 6 a.m, and the sun had barley risen. Sleep was beyond me, and despite how hard I tried last night, I didn't catch a wink of sleep. Instead of bothering Fletcher with my constant tossing and turning, I decided to just go for a run to hopefully clear my mind, and get rid of the instrusive thoughts that had crept into my mind yesterday. 

I had barely made it halfway back to campus, when I spotted a limping body coming my way. I squinted my eyes to get a better look, but before I could, the body slumped down onto a bench nearby. The person held their arm against their abdomen, and I could tell from their breathing, that they were barely staying conscious. Running over in that direction, I felt my eyes widen as the figure morphed into one that I had seen before.

Roman-or Aiden, was spread across the bench. A pool of red substance, which was none other than his blood had formed on the cement floor below. His face was littered with cuts and bruises, and he held an arm against his abdomen, which looked like it was the source of all the blood. His eyes were shut tightly when I had approached him, but they quickly opened once my voice sounded from above him.

"Roman? What the hell happened?" I said to him, keeping my voice low and steady. I didn't want to draw anything attention to us, in case any campus faculty or students were lurking around. Kneeling down beside him, I watched as his eyes slowly opened. His breaths were labored, and I could tell her was struggling to get the words out.

"Rick." Was the only word that escaped his lips before he let out a low groan, and tightened his arm around his abdomen.

I felt my stomach drop at his response, as I laid a hand on his shoulder to keep him awake.

"Rick did this you? Where's Isabella? Is she okay?" I shot out the questions, not caring that my voice had suddenly become frantic. My gut feeling had been right after all, but I was afraid to hear Roman's response about Isabella. I didn't know if I could handle Rick hurting another person I cared about. 

He didn't say anything, but the slow shake of his head did nothing to ease my concerns. 

"Hold still. I'm going to see how deep your cut is." I said to Roman, before carefully pulling his arm away from his side. His t-shirt was drenched in blood, and I could hear a small hiss come out of Roman as I lifted his shirt to look at the cut that was responsible for the load of blood he was losing. The cut stretched from the skin beside his belly button all the way over to where his left rib was. The cut looked deep, and I could see open flesh from the open wound. A few small cuts littered the rest of his body, but they weren't claiming nearly as much blood as the big one.